Testimonials

In the various roles he has undertaken through the years, Val J. Halamandaris has been a singular driving force behind the policy and program initiatives resulting in the recognition of home health care as a viable alternative to institutionalization. His dedication to consumer advocacy, which enhances the quality of life and dignity of those receiving home health care, merits VNA HealthCare Group’s highest recognition and deepest respect.

- VNA HealthCare Group

I have the highest respect for them, especially for the nurses, aides and therapists, who devote their lives to caring for people with disabilities, the infirm and dying Americans. There are few more noble professions.

- President Barack Obama

Home health care agencies do such a wonderful job in this country helping people to be able to remain at home and allowing them to receive services

Home care is a combination of compassion and efficiency. It is less expensive than institutional care...but at the same time it is a more caring, human, intimate experience, and therefore it has a greater human element...it’s a big mistake not to try to maximize it and find ways to give people the home care option over either nursing homes, hospitals or other institutions

- Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

Medicaid covers long-term care, but only for low-income families. And Medicare only pays for care that is connected to a hospital discharge....our health care system must cover these vital services...[and] we should promote home-based care, which most people prefer, instead of the institutional care that we emphasize now.

- Former U.S. Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-CD)

We need incentives to...keep people in home health care settings...It’s dramatically less expensive than long term care.

- U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Home care is clearly the wave of the future. It’s clearly where patients want to be cared for. I come from an ethnic family and when a member of our family is severely ill, we would never consider taking them to get institutional care. That’s true of many families for both cultural and financial reasons. If patients have a choice of where they want to be cared for, where it’s done the right way, they choose home.

- Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services

A couple of years ago, I spent a little bit of time with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice and its president, Val J. Halamandaris, and I was just blown away. What impressed me so much was that they talked about what they do as opposed to just the strategies of how to deal with Washington or Sacramento or Albany or whatever the case may be. Val is a fanatic about care, and it comes through in every way known to mankind. It comes through in the speakers he invites to their events; it comes through in all the stuff he shares.

- Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

Val’s home care organization brings thousands of caregivers together into a dynamic organization that provides them with valuable resources and tools to be even better in their important work. He helps them build self-esteem, which leads to self-motivation.

- Mike Vance, former Dean of Disney and author of Think Out of the Box

Val is one of the greatest advocates for seniors in America. He goes beyond the call of duty every time.

Val has brought the problems, the challenges, and the opportunities out in the open for everyone to look at. He is a visionary pointing the direction for us.

- Margaret (Peg) Cushman, Professor of Nursing and former President of the Visiting Nurses Association

Although Val has chosen to stay in the background, he deserves much of the credit for what was accomplished both at the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, where he was closely associated with me and at the House Select Committee on Aging, where he was Congressman Claude Pepper’s senior counsel and closest advisor. He put together more hearings on the subject of aging, wrote more reports, drafted more bills, and had more influence on the direction of events than anyone before him or since.

- Frank E. Moss, former U.S. Senator

Val’s most important contribution is pulling together all elements of home health care and being able to organize and energize the people involved in the industry.

- Frank E. Moss, former U.S. Senator

Anyone working on health care issues in Congress knows the name Val J. Halamandaris.

- Kathleen Gardner Cravedi, former Staff Director of the House Select Committee on Aging

Without your untiring support and active participation, the voices of people advocating meaningful and compassionate health care reform may not have been heard by national leaders.

All of us have been members of many organizations and NAHC is simply the best there is. NAHC aspires to excellence in every respect; its staff has been repeatedly honored as the best in Washington; the organization lives by the highest values and has demonstrated a passionate interest in the well-being of patients and providers.

- Elaine Stephens, Director of Home Care of Steward Home Care/Steward Health Systems and former NAHC C

Home care increasingly is one of the basic building blocks in the developing system of long-term care. On both economic and recuperative bases, home health care will continue to grow as an essential service for individuals, for families and for the community as a whole.

- Former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

NCOA is excited to be part of this great event and honored to have such influential award winners in the field of aging.

- National Council of Aging

Health care at home…is something we need more of, not less of. Let us make a commitment to preventive and long-term care. Let us encourage home care as an alternative to nursing homes and give folks a little help to have their parents there.

- Former President Bill Clinton

House Moves One Step Closer to Passing Bill to Repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board

Majority of Lawmakers Vote to Move Bill Forward, Final Passage to Occur Next Week

June 22, 2015 08:05 AM

The House of Representatives this week moved one step closer to passing legislation that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) by approving a procedural motion allowing final passage of the legislation in the coming week. The House held the procedural vote in addition to voting to repeal the medical device tax, both of which were votes the House scheduled earlier in the week, as previously reported.

In order to become law, the IPAB repeal legislation would still need to pass the Senate and be signed by the President. However, the House vote indicates the serious concerns about IPAB and the overwhelming support in Congress for repealing the board moving forward.

“This is an agency that I believe should not exist and does not follow our democratic ideals,” said Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) during the debate over the legislation.

In addition to the repeal efforts, the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services passed a spending measure this week that again defunds IPAB by rescinding the $15 million in annual funding made available for the board under the ACA. Since IPAB was first established, Congress has continually denied its funding due to concerns.

IPAB, as established under the ACA, is a board of presidential appointees with the power to make recommendations to cut Medicare if expenditures reach a certain level. IPAB’s actions would be subject to little oversight with no judicial review once the Secretary of Health and Human Services implements a recommendation.

Proponents of IPAB claim it could result in health care delivery reforms, but there is concern the board would instead focus on short-term cuts because of a requirement under the law that IPAB achieve savings within one year. The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) additionally objects to giving an unelected board the authority to put forward Medicare cuts. Instead, NAHC argues, the democratically elected members of Congress should have the authority to debate and make changes to Medicare, which is a public program upon which millions of seniors and disabled persons rely. IPAB limits the power of citizens to petition Congress and meaningfully participate in the lawmaking process.

The Congressional Budget Office, as previously reported, released a summary estimating that the IPAB repeal legislation would not affect spending between 2015 and 2021, but that it would increase direct spending by $7.1 billion over the 2022-2025 period. As a result, the legislation uses a portion of the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF) from FY2017-FY2025 to offset its cost. Due to concerns about this specific offset, NAHC supports efforts to identify an alternative offset before the bill becomes law.

NAHC Report will continue to provide updates regarding the status of this legislation.